Data Visualization is just as important as ever when it comes to finding and presenting insights buried in data. A new study from data visualization software reviewer, Software Advice, finds that business professionals across a wide array of industries all look for better data visualization as a part of their Business Intelligence software.

This may seem obvious, but the study shows that the top reason for buying new BI software is for better data visualization. Tools that do not make it easy to show the data are being discarded in favor of those that do. This is just further proof that data collection and statistical analysis alone is not good enough, visualizations are absolutely necessary for translating data into actionable insights.

People are visual creatures, so the type of visual monitoring provided by dashboards is a great way to communicate to them. Dashboards were the top requested tool in new BI software. It makes sense that people want to use their visual system to monitor the world they work and live in. In the physical world, vision is the primary communicator of the status of everything, so we should build our digital tools to take advantage of the same senses.

Drew Skau is Visualization Architect at Visual.ly and a PhD Computer Science Visualization student at UNCC with an undergraduate degree in Architecture. You can follow him on Twitter @SeeingStructure

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